It’s not often that a movie franchise lasts fifty years, or survives so many cast changes, but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series and with that comes the 23rd instalment, Skyfall. Though technically it’s only the third film, Casino Royale was a reboot.

After an action packed opening sequence, in which Bond (Daniel Craig) fails to retrieve important M16 files, M’s ability to lead is called into question. Gareth Mallory, played by Ralph Fiennes, is sent in to pressure M into retirement, but she doesn’t want to ‘leave it (M16) in a worse state than she found it’. 007 must then go on a mission to track down the files, but to do this he must go deep into M’s past and face a ghost who has come back to haunt her.

The story is interesting and moves quickly so it never gets boring despite the long running time of two hours and 23 minutes. However, some aspects, like the Bond girl, felt like they were just thrown in because they had to or it wouldn’t be a James Bond film. Bérénice Marlohe plays Sévérine Skyfall’s version of a Bond girl. Though her performance was good she never really had anything to do and could easily be lifted out of the movie without it affecting the story.

M is very much at the centre of the plot and Judi Dench does an amazing job portraying M as both a heartless leader and a mother figure. She makes the tough calls and doesn’t apologise when one agent’s safety has to be sacrificed for the greater good, which is admirable but makes it hard to believe that anyone would actually be loyal to her. However, she does subtly give an explanation for this by pointing out that ‘orphans always make the best agents’. Bonds unquestionable loyalty to her adds to the depth of his character, which is explored further in this movie.

As far as villains go, I think it’s fair to say that Skyfall has one of the most interesting. Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem is a cyber-terrorist who prides himself on being able to take down organisations and people without ever having to leave his computer. Even though he’s the villain it’s hard not to like him because he’s a little crazy and that’s always interesting to watch. Plus, he very nearly became the first Bond boy, well that should get your imaginations going. There are a number of similarities between Raoul and Bond, which makes it so interesting to see how different they ended up.

Skyfall also sees the return of Q, though a much younger version. Ben Whishaw takes on the role offering up some comedic relief and creating an interesting dynamic with Bond who is now the older of the two. Naomie Harris plays a young field agent, called Eve, who ‘may not be cut out for field work’. Harris does a great job, but some of Eve’s choices, particularly one at the end, seem out of character. The relationship between her and Bond is actually much more compelling than the one he has with Bond girl Sévérine.

There are some really fun references to older Bond movies that fans of the franchise will love. Even if you’re not well educated in the world of Bond you’ll be able to pick up on a few and join in on the fun. Skyfall is a really clever, entertaining and interesting movie that has shown Bond films can have depth and character growth without sacrificing the action and excitement.

What do you think? Are you a James Bond Fan? Have you seen every Bond film? Do you plan on seeing Skyfall? Who was your favourite Bond? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and, if you liked this review, click the like button.

Clearly Robocop is no match for the advanced technology of the 21st century as set pictures have hit the web after only one day of shooting.

The remake of Robocop began filming in Toronto today and we’re already getting a look at the lead character. For those that don’t know, Robocop is the story of a policeman who is nearly dead when a company steps in and saves him with advanced technology. Then he returns to his job, only this time he has built in weapons and gadgets.

The two pictures that were released show that the costume has changed quite a bit, not that this is a bad thing. This new version of the suit looks good, but it’s kind of reminiscent of the bat suit. Though that could be because of the colour, which is strangely black. It seems like the original colour, silver, would better fit the story. It’s obviously an attempt to try make the suit look more modern, but still it may be a bit too far of a departure. A combination between the old and new design would be nice, though it’s a little too late now.

What do you think? Are you excited about this remake? Which version of the suit do you prefer? Would you like to see a cross between both designs? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and click the like button.

Liam Neeson is about to show even more people why he shouldn’t be messed with in the upcoming sequel to the 2008 film Taken.

A trailer for the film has been released as well as some details about the plot. This time around Neeson’s ex-wife will be the one who is taken and the culprit is the son of one of the men killed in the first film. The story is set one year after the events of the previous film.

Not surprisingly the trailer shows that this instalment will be no less action packed than the first, but will it also live up to the success of its predecessor? Though it paints an exciting picture the trailer shows no signs of any emotional or intellectual depth, one of the main criticisms of the first. However, seeing as Taken was a huge success in spite of this, it may be a mistake to change something that clearly isn’t broken.

Sony Pictures have released another trailer for the upcoming addition to the Resident Evil film franchise, Resident Evil: Retribution.

It’s never easy converting a story from one medium to another, there will always be diehard fans that are understandable protective of the original. When Resident Evil made the transition from game to film it wasn’t so much about keeping loyal to the original story but rather the feeling of playing the game, which is why I split fans. Some weren’t able to get over the lack of familiar characters and story, while others appreciated the uneasy atmosphere that mirrored the one in the games. As the series progressed it introduced more elements and characters from the games, but began to lose any resemblance of tone or atmosphere. For this reason many fans of the games openly dislike the series as it doesn’t feel like a Resident Evil experience and the characters do not behave like their game counterparts. From the latest trailer it appears that the film franchise will be moving even further away from the story of the games.

There is a lot of information about the story in this trailer. It was previously stated that a number of characters, who featured in previous movies, would not be returning in this film because they were captured by Umbrella. The trailer adds to this by showing that Alice was also captured and is being held in a fictional reality were she is married to Carlos Oliveira and the two of them have a child together. Ada Wong finds Alice and reveals that the life she is experiencing isn’t real and is only implanted memories. It’s still a little confusing about who is and isn’t a clone, especially since Alice is seen having two different hairstyles throughout the trailer. The narration states that Umbrella has used Alice to perfect the virus, which brings on a whole new theory of how her deceased friends have returned; maybe they were actually brought back with the virus. Though considering Carlos was blown up and jigsaw experts would be require to bring the original James ‘One’ Shade clones are still the most logical bet, which is a little disappointing.

As a fan of both the movie and game series, I thought the trailer looked really good. The story looks interesting and I’m looking forward to actually understanding it. It seems over the top with lots of action and really if that’s not what you want to see then this isn’t the right franchise for you. It doesn’t resemble the games so much in terms of story, but there are a lot of elements from the games that can be seen throughout the trailer. Most obviously are the zombies and B.O.W.s which strongly mirror those of the games. More characters from the games have been brought into the film as well as a proper return for Jill Valentine who only briefly appeared that the end of Afterlife after being absent from Extinction without any explanation. The movie comes out on the 14th of September 2012, until then all we can do is speculate but isn’t that one of the best parts of being obsessed with movies? Maybe that’s just me.

What do you think? Did you enjoy the trailer? Are you planning on seeing the movie? Do you like when characters from the game appear in the films or do you think they don’t carry over well? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and, if you like this post, click the like button. If you enjoy speculating feel free to add your theories in the comment section.

The trailer begins with a mock ad for Sony that many fans thought was a real advertisement, which does happen on YouTube videos these days, and began trying to skip it or reading the comments until it passed. Some sites have start complaining that this was Sony’s way of advertising within the trailer. Actress Mila Jovovich said on Twitter that this was not the case and that it was similar to teasers they’ve done in the past, either way it was pretty funny when Alice said ‘my name is Alice and this is my world’, which is what the people in the fake ad were saying but about zombies. It was also a nice play on were the world is at now in real life and were it is in the films.

Now on to the actual movie footage, which was great. It all goes by so fast and there’s so much to process, but I’ve watched it like 100 times now so I’ve managed to make some theories and that’s always fun. Some parts look like they take place in a different time or at least in a place that is only newly getting touched by the zombie virus. There is one part in particular that shows Alice with a little girl in a neighbourhood with a police car and burning cars, but Alice and the child look clean and are dressed in normal, pre-apocalypse, clothes. I don’t think it’s a flashback, a child would have been referenced by now, I think it’s a clone. Maybe the neighbourhood is an Umbrella experiment, it’s an interesting thought.

Also Alice is shown in the pedestrian crossing that was in the opening of Resident Evil: Afterlife. The people all seem pretty shocked to see the fully kitted out Alice in the, supposedly, zombie free city. This is partly what made me think that Umbrella might have areas that they use for experiments. Or it could be a drug induced fantasy, it’s all guess work at the moment.

There are bits that look as though they continue directly from were the last film left off, which will make explaining Claire and K-Mart’s absence harder or maybe they filmed a brief cameo. It doesn’t look good for the people on the boat though, as they are seriously outnumbered, but we already knew that from the last one.

It’s all very cool looking; the monsters, the zombies and the heroes. I’m glad that characters from previous Resident Evil movies are coming back, but I still don’t know how. I’ve been guessing clones and I think I’m going to stick with that. Why train new people when you can just crank out and army of clones, it worked in Star Wars didn’t it. The only character, who’s been brought back from the dead, to appear in the trailer was Rain, who is played by Michelle Rodriguez. We last saw Rain being killed by Alice, after becoming a zombie, in the first movie.

Ada Wong, who will be played by Bingbing li, can also be seen in the trailer. It’s amazing how good a job they’ve done with her, she looks so much like the game character. It’s always nice to see how characters from the games fit into the movies, so that’s something I’m really excited about.

All things consider, I’m really happy with the trailer. There are so many theories you could draw from it, most would probably be wrong, but it’s just saying so much and so little at the same time.

What do you think? Do you like the trailer? Did you think the Sony part was a real ad? Are you excited about the movie? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also don’t forget to follow/subscribe and click the like button, if you like this post. If you want to follow me on Twitter my page is https://twitter.com/#!/AdamODwyer1.

Production on the live action American adaptation of Akira has stopped, will this be the end of the project entirely or is it just another speed bump?

Work on the Akira remake has been anything but smooth, it’s already had its budget slashed from $150 million to $90 million, changed director and been rewritten by several different writers. However, now Warner Bros have stopped pre-production of the film completely. Some think this is the end for the project, despite statements released saying that it was not, though maybe that’s just wishful thinking from the diehard fans that have been, understandably, anxious and critical of the remake.

At first it was thought that production had stopped due to another budget cut, but now it’s been reported that it is more rewrites that are causing the halt. It’s worrying to think that it’s taking so many people to write something that has already been made, but hey that’s Hollywood. It could be taken as a sign that some major changes to the story have accorded, hopefully not though as Akira has a huge fan base that want the story to be respected in this, and every other, version.

Reports suggest that Warner Bros are eager to get the project up and running again, but it has been in production since the rights were bought back in 2008. Since then, there have been a series of stop and starts, which means that it could be a few years before filming actually begins. However, it seems unlikely as casting has already started with Garrett Hedlund in the lead role, as Kaneda, and Kristen Stewart, Helena Bonham Carter and Ken Watanabe in negotiations to appear in the film. Also the part of the second lead role, Tetsuo, has been narrowed down to two actors; Dane DeHaan and Michael Pitt. The decision was supposed to be announced after Christmas, but the break in production has no doubt caused this to be delayed.

Regardless of all of the problems they’ve encountered, there is still a big chance that this film will be made, and maybe even on time, but if they don’t respect the source material then is there really a point in remaking the film in the first place?

What do you think? Are you an Akira fan? Would you like production to be cancelled permanently? Who do you think should play Tetsuo; Dane DeHaan or Michael Pitt? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also don’t forget to subscribe/follow, click the like button and follow me on Twitter.

Having only read about the Swedish film it’s hard to make any real comparisons, but David Fincher has adapted the late Stieg Larsson’s book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, beautifully. The film translates the dark masterpiece of the Swedish journalist perfectly into a wonder and intriguing film that, right from the start, grabs viewers, with an abstract, and kickass, title sequence, and holds their attention until, near, the end of the incredibly long film

Going into the film without seeing so much as a trailer, I really had no idea what to expect and, if I’m honest, I didn’t think I was going to like it. The main thing putting me off was the length of the film, which is just under three hours. I thought I’d get bored long before the end, but with characters this interesting and complex, it was hardly an issue. The shear psychological understanding of the characters is amazing. Things like why they do what they do and how they react to each other, have been so clearly mapped out that it’s easy to believe the characters are real people. The film does take these characters to some dark places, especially Lisbeth (the girl with the dragon tattoo), and it’s hard to watch at times, but still very nice to see such great acting.

The film follows two different characters, who eventually meet up, Lisbeth (played by Rooney Mara), an antisocial girl with a photographic memory and incredible computer hacking skills, and Mikael (Daniel Craig), an investigative reporter. When Mikael is sued for libel after making accusations about a rich businessman, he quits his job in an attempt to protect the magazine he co-owns. He is then recruited by an old man named Henrik (Christopher Plummer) to solve the 36 year old mystery of Henrik’s niece’s murder. Mikael agrees, but is unaware that Lisbeth had already been hired by Henrik to do a background check on him. When he finds out he asks to see her report, noticing there are things she could not have found out without hacking into his computer, he then hires her to assist him in solving the case.

There isn’t a single actor in the film that didn’t do a great job, even the Swedish accents seemed flawless and I was legitimately surprised when I found out which ones were real and which were not. However, I couldn’t help thinking, at least at the start, how pointless the accents were. Why make all of the characters speak in English with Swedish accents? If you want them Swedish get them speaking Swedish. I’m not saying that Craig and Mara should have been forced to learn another language for the film, but giving them the accents made it seem like it was just an adaption for the people that were too lazy to read the subtitles on the Swedish version. Though, I’m sure there are some stylistic differences too, that’s just what crossed my mind while watching the film.

I’ve already mentioned how great the acting was, but I feel more attention has to be given to Rooney Mara, who essentially transformed herself for this role. She was brilliant, the best part of the film. Her character is probably the most complicated of the lot, and that’s saying something. It’s not hard to sympathise with her as she goes through her dark journey and the sense of isolation is just overpowering at times. She has been hurt by nearly everyone she’s ever known so it’s hard for her to trust anyone. Mara is able to bring so many levels into every scene, watching her body language you can see Lisbeth’s fear of real intimacy and getting emotionally involved with anybody. There is desperation in her actions and Mara has the ability to convey this in a subtle way.

Clearly aimed at a more mature audience, some scenes were really hard to watch. One scene in particular were the viewer must watch a rape, was genuinely disturbing. It was necessary to the understanding of the character, but was still horrible to see. The villain of the movie is so routed in psychology that it was a bit like watching a combination of the shows Dexter and Criminal Minds. It’s rare to see a film were the bad guy has a motive that is just so purely sick and realistic, not at all like the ones given by the killers in franchises such as Scream and Urban Legends.

Though the end was somewhat unsatisfying, this film is still, to my surprise, a brilliant, intriguing and intelligent piece of work. Despite having never read the book, I didn’t have trouble keeping track of the many suspects and was so engrossed in the story it almost didn’t matter. At times it felt as though they could have gotten three films out of this one book, but that’s more to do with the level of detail than anything else. This movie was so well done that I feel it’s only a matter of time before they adapt the sequel as well. It is a true shame that the author, Stieg Larsson, died before the book was even released.

What do you think? Have you read the book? Did you see the Swedish version? Are you a fan of David Fincher? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below, also don’t forget to subscribe and click the like button. If you want to keep up to date with future posts and projects follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/AdamODwyer1.

Once upon a time, there was a girl, named Snow White, who cooked and cleaned for seven men until she was killed by a piece of fruit. Don’t worry, she was brought back by a little harmless necrophilia, aka kiss from a Prince. In 2012, this charming tale will be retold, twice. One starring Kristen Stewart and one starring Lily Collins.

You’ll be glad to know that in the original story there was no necrophilia; Snow White was very much alive when the prince kissed her. She woke back up when the glass coffin was dropped and a piece of the poison apple was dislodged from her throat, then and only then, when it was completely legal, did the prince kiss her, though he had just bought her to put on display (not kidding the seven dwarfs sold the corpse). Next year two Snow White live action adaptions are coming out, one’s a comedy and then the others your typical Hollywood dark remake.

The first to hit cinemas is Mirror Mirror, starring Lily Collins, which comes out in March 2012. It’s a light hearted, almost parody, of the fairy tale. In it, Snow White is banished into the forest were she meets the seven dwarfs. She then leads them in a fight against the men sent by the evil queen. One of these men is the prince, who Snow White had fallen in love with, but he’s under a spell.

It seems to be the same basic story as the fairy tale with a bit of comedy thrown in. This version is the lighter of the two and is aimed more towards children and teen girls. It looks extremely over the top and stylised, yet somehow cheap at the same time. Most of it the scenery just looks like a movie set, which obviously it is. Julia Roberts’ character seems to make jokes that are more for the older audience, but it really just comes off as a bad Shrek rip-off.

The second film will be released in June 2012 and is titled Snow White and the Huntsman. This one is significantly darker than the other and is reminiscent of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which may be because it has the same producers. In this story Snow White teams up with the Huntsman to defeat the queen. It’s a unique twist on the tail, but maybe they’ve twisted it too much. I’m all for dark remakes, but they have to make sense. What exactly does this have to do with Snow White?

Lack of faith to the source material aside, this is the version that is more likely to get me into the cinema as it’s definitely aimed at an older, probably male, audience, though Twilight fans will no doubt also go see it. In my opinion, this is by far the better of the two and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t prove more popular than the former.

What do you think? Which one would you prefer to see? Do you think the story needed updating? Would you ever put a dead person on display? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also don’t forget to subscribe/follow and click the like button.